Special to the Cape Charles Mirror by Paul Plante
Yes, people, a “BETTER DEAL” for America and the American people, and who in their right mind can be against that!
And we should all take a moment here to pause and reflect on how lucky and blessed and special and exceptional we are that we live in a country where you can get a “BETTER DEAL” than the other guy is offering.
If we lived in Russia, for example, with its state-run economy, there simply would not be a chance for a “BETTER DEAL,” for it would be the same deal wherever you went.
And people, and when you look at what you get with this “BETTER DEAL,”, a cheeseburger for the price of a hamburger, with a thick shake and biggy fries thrown in for free, you’ll be saying to yourself, this isn’t a better deal, this is a great deal, and in American politics today, with someone now in the White House who got there based on the art of the deal, that is what it is now all about – who has the better deal.
And of course, after losing this last presidential election and control of much of our government, which they treat as their possession, the Democrats now desperately want and need us to believe that it is them, which takes us to the ASSOCIATED PRESS story “Promising ‘A Better Deal,’ Democrats try to rebrand party” by Erica Werner, AP Congressional Correspondent, 25 July 2017, wherein we are informed as follows concerning this “BETTER DEAL” the Democrats now have to offer us, as they play let’s make a deal with Republican Donald trump:
BERRYVILLE, Va. (AP) — Promising “A Better Deal” for American workers, Democratic Party leaders rolled out a new agenda with a populist pitch on Monday as they sought to bounce back from their losses in November and look ahead to the 2018 midterms.
They left the Beltway for small-town Berryville, Virginia, in an attempt to appeal to the working-class voters that Donald Trump appealed to last November and Democrats hope to win back.
“Too many Americans don’t know what we stand for,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York.
end quote
But of course, that is not true, and how could it be true after these last eight years of Democrat control of the executive branch of our federal government, which they treated as their possession, and the seemingly interminable campaign of Hillary Rodham Clinton, where we learned that as the Democrats saw us, and termed us, we were nothing more than a “basket of deplorables,” not even human, let alone American citizens with the same rights as a card-carrying, loyalty oath spewing Democrat, as well as suffering from implicit bias if we were born with white skin.
In a recent SLATE article entitled “Schumer Takes Aim at Clinton: Don’t Blame Russia or Comey, ‘Blame Yourself’‘by Daniel Politi on July 23, 2017, we were presented with this Democrat angst that now underlies the “BETTER DEAL” they are about to present to America, to wit:
“So what did we do wrong?”
“People didn’t know what we stood for, just that we were against Trump.”
“And still believe that.â€
A recent poll found that 52 percent of Americans think the Democratic Party “just stands against Trump’while only 37 percent think it actually “stands for something.â€
end quotes
Now, that is a telling statistic, alright – just 37 percent of the American people actually think the Democrat party actually “stands for something,’and there is a good chance that 37 percent is comprised of Democrats, so of course that is how they would feel, elsewise, why would they bother to be a Democrat?
As for the rest of us, and let me make it clear here that I am a political independent who holds both parties in contempt, how can we possibly not know, after all these years, what the Democrats stand for?
Do the Democrats think we are all ignorant and incapable of reading the written word as it was presented to us in a Tribune Washington Bureau article entitled “Embattled Pelosi’s big survival weapon: money” by Anshu Siripurapu on 22 June 2017, wherein we were informed as follows as to who the Democrats really are, to wit:
Here’s a huge reason Nancy Pelosi maintains her iron grip on House Democrats, even after another bruising — and in many party circles embarrassing — election loss: her ability to raise lots and lots of money.
end quotes
Ah, yes, people – her ability to raise lots and lots of money, not for America, not for the American people, not for the needy, or the people really in need of a far better deal than they got this last recession, but for the Democrat party, which is in the game for itself.
Getting back to the Tribune Washington Bureau article, we have this:
The House Democratic leader has few current peers when it comes to pumping money into colleagues’ campaigns.
No other potential up-and-coming Democratic challenger to her leadership comes close.
Since 1990, she’s raised more than $9.2 million for party candidates, including $739,000 in the 2016 election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks contributions from candidate committees and affiliated PACs.
Pelosi’s office claims even loftier triumphs, saying she’s raised more than $500 million for Democrats since entering the party leadership in the early 2000s, including $141.5 million in the 2015-2016 cycle.
Big donors to the party’s congressional campaign committee were also available to Pelosi through her “Speaker’s Cabinet’program, which gave them special access to the Democratic leader.
end quotes
Now, as you ponder who the Democrats really are, focus in on that last sentence above, and give it some real thought for a moment as you ask yourself the vital existential question of “What is wrong with that picture” – Big donors to the party’s congressional campaign committee were also available to Pelosi through her “Speaker’s Cabinet’program, which gave them special access to the Democratic leader.
Special access, people.
Now, wouldn’t that be GREAT DEAL if every American could have it, special access to the speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and not just the big donors to the Democrat party?
Sure it would but you know what, if every American had equal access to our elected leaders, what would happen to our present political system, which is based on selling access to our government to the highest bidders, and let the rest, which is most of us, eat cake?
And you got it, it would collapse like a house of cards built on a base of shifting sand.
So to counter the perception that the only ones the Democrats have anything for are the ones with the ready cash to buy access to our government through the Democrat party, which has no qualms whatsoever about selling that special access, the Democrats have rolled out this new program they are calling a “BETTER DEAL.”
So, what really will this better deal give us American people, besides the cheeseburger for the price of a hamburger, with a thick shake and biggy fries thrown in for free, which really is not a bad deal at all if you are into fast food, and these days, what with everyone’s crowded plate and on-the-go lifestyle, who isn’t?
And for that answer, we have to go back to the SLATE article “Schumer Takes Aim at Clinton: Don’t Blame Russia or Comey, ‘Blame Yourself’‘by Daniel Politi on July 23, 2017, where we find the Democrats being cagey about that, as they should, to keep our hopes for change we can hope for high, given that modern politics is based on applied psychology:
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said the new plan “is not a course correction, but it’s a presentation correction.â€
end quotes
Ah, not a course correction, people, but a presentation correction, instead, which is to say, it will still be the same old Democrat party that writes most of us off as a “basket of deplorables,” but it will have us thinking and believing it is really something different, a tactic known as political legerdemain.
But according to SLATE, that has led to concern from outside the Beltway that Democrats don’t think they actually need to change policies, only how they are presented to voters, and who but a fool would think it otherwise.
So what will the plan entail?
According to SLATE, Democrats are keeping their cards close to their chest for now but U.S. senator from New York Charley “CHUCK” Schumer, one of the most powerful Democrats that there is, said on ABC’s This Week that the goal is to appeal to both the Obama coalition and the voters that abandoned the party in favor of Trump.
“Week after week, month after month, we’re going to roll out specific pieces here, that are quite different than the Democratic Party you heard in the past,’Schumer said.
“We were too cautious.”
“We were too namby-pamby.â€
end quotes
So that’s it for now, people – they were too namby-pamby, and now, they are not going to be!
How is that for a “BETTER DEAL?”
Maybe it will turn out to be the BEST DEAL in town, but as always with these things political, we are just going to have to wait and see, so stay tuned and don’t touch that dial.
Carla Jasper says
Thank you. I appreciate your ability to present a lucid account of what a lot of us are thinking.
Paul Plante says
Give the thanks where it really belongs – to the women of my community who taught me when young that when I got older, which I am now, that I would have the same obligation to those coming after me to preserve their rights, liberties and freedoms, as they had to me, which is why I was there so many years ago now to get the education on what it means to be an American citizen in a REPUBLIC of, by, and for the people, not the Democrat party, that you see me utilizing in here today.
And I very much appreciate the feedback!
So thank you for that!
Kearn Schemm says
I was raised a Democrat, in New Jersey. Back then, the Dems helped normal people – were in fact the party of the people. The last election shows how far they have departed from those old ways. All the big money (Hollywood, Wall Street Hedge Fund managers, etc) were for Clinton – the only one who stood up for American workers was, bizarrely, a billionaire, who could afford to do so since big money wasn’t a problem for him.
The Democrats have strayed far from their base and they will not deserve to get it back until they show that they will do something for it – like end job-killing trade deals and wage-depressing illegal (and legal) immigration.
Paul Plante says
And I would like to thank you for a thoughtful as opposed to an emotional response.
Hopefully, people will take a moment to read and fully consider what you are saying above here, and give it the serious thought your words deserve.
Paul Plante says
“YES, as I observed sometime ago, no violent party man can ever be a good citizen.”
“He seeks to destroy all interests but his own; and to ride triumphant over the prostrate necks of his opposers.”
That, of course, was Atticus writing in “Atticus II” in the Independent Chronicle and the Universal Advertiser in Boston, Massachusetts on October 18, 1787, back in the very beginning days of our former Republic which has since been lost to us, to be replaced by the unstable “democracy” we are saddled with in this devolving nation today, and he or she may well have been looking forward in time with prescient vision at Democrat powerhouse and party man Charley “Chuck” Schumer in our times today, with this “BETTER DEAL” crap fest that Charley “Chuck” and his Democrat cohort Nancy Pelosi are trying to feed us to make us think and believe that the Democrats of the day before yesterday who were taking in all the Wall $treet money while calling us a “basket of deplorables” and accusing us en masse of being racists for the crime of being born with white skin no longer exist, and have miraculously been replaced with re-born Democrats, who are n0w our very best buddies and pals, as if we were exactly that stupid that we would believe this “Better Deal” crap fest Charley “Chuck” Schumer is now trying to feed us, as if we had no memory of anything more than five minutes ago.
“We also failed to communicate our values to show that we were on the side of working people, not the special interests.”
“We will not repeat the same mistake.”
That is our illustrious Charley “Chuck” Schumer being quoted in his home state of New York, where Charley “Chuck” is quite a Big Deal himself, what with being a U.S. senator and all that kind of political stuff, in the Albany Times Union article “Schumer’s ‘Better Deal’ aims to recreate Dems’ ‘New Deal’ magic – Schumer touts middle class economic plan to woo back Trump voters” by Dan Freedman on Sunday, July 30, 2017, and what a bunch of pure unadulterated horse**** his claim that “we were on the side of working people, not the special interests” is, as we can clearly see from an NBC WNJU article by Steve Peoples on just seven (7) months ago now on 1 February 2017, wherein we were informed as follows:
Thousands of angry liberals packed the icy sidewalk outside Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer’s Brooklyn apartment.
They mocked him with signs like “Grow a spine, Chuck!” and “Chuck’s a chicken.”
“We’re not going to sit idly by when our Democracy is crumbling beneath us,” said Celia Caro, a 50-year-old Brooklyn art teacher who said the recent women’s march was her first protest as an adult.
At the same time, some of the protesters outside Schumer’s apartment in Park Slope said his close ties to the political establishment make it difficult for them to trust him.
Choi called Schumer “as corporate a Democrat as they come” – “bought and paid for by Goldman Sachs.”
end quote
As corporate as they come, people, that’s our Charley “Chuck,” but you know what, even as he takes that Wall $treet money, he is really on the side of the working class in this country, and if he didn’t have all that Wall $treet money in his pocket, he would never be able to get his message across to those working class people that he, and not Hillary Clinton, is really their Champion, or that is the narrative we are supposed to believe, anyway.
For another view of who Democrat Charley “Chuck” Schumer really is, we have this from a Democrat internet column entitled “The Resistance” by Andrew Goutman on December 13, 2016:
There is a new sheriff in town for the Democrats.
New York Senator Chuck Schumer, a reliable liberal, prodigious fundraiser (Wall Street is after all located in New York) and astute strategist, takes the mantle of minority leader from retiring Harry Reid.
Schumer told the Washington Post that Democrats “will oppose him (Trump) with everything we have.”
end quote
A prodigious fundraiser for the Democrats, people, that is who the real Charley “Chuck” Schumer really is, and yet, in spite of that (does he think we can’t read and assimilate the meaning of words), Charley “Chuck,” with this “Better Deal” of his, wants us to think and believe that he is really in there for us common folks, not the rich dudes who shove that big money down his pocket to turn his attention to them, and not towards us.
Which raises the serious existential question of are we really that stupid?
And that takes us back to Virginia’s own Jemmy Madison, at one time a leader in the new House of Representatives and subsequently a United States president, and his saying “Do not separate text from historical background, if you do, you will have perverted and subverted the Constitution, which can only end in a distorted, bastardized form of illegitimate government,” for with his Democrat fundraising and obstructionism in the U.S. senate, Charley “Chuck” Schumer is the very embodiment of the distorted, bastardized form of illegitimate government we have in this country today precisely because we as a people no longer have any idea as to what the historical background of the erection of our form of Republican government even was, so we are easily led astray by party men like Charley “Chuck” Schumer today.
As to the United States senate where Democrat fundraiser and obstructionist Charley “Chuck” Schumer presently serves as the “new sheriff in town for the Democrats,” Edmund Jennings Randolph (August 10, 1753 – September 12, 1813), the seventh Governor of Virginia, the second Secretary of State, and the first United States Attorney General, called for its members to “to restrain, if possible, the fury of democracy,” but as we can see from this GOTHAMIST article entitled “New Yorkers Put Schumer On Blast: ‘Stand Up Or Get Out Of The Way’” by Raphael Pope-Sussman on February 1, 2017, Charley “Chuck” helps to fan the flames of that fury, instead, simply so he can get Rome burning to give him an occasion to fiddle a tune:
Hundreds of New Yorkers braved freezing temperatures Tuesday night on Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza at a rally calling upon U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to take a firm stand against the Trump administration.
Hae-Lin Choi, of the Democratic Socialists of America and Resist Trump NY, took the stage first, announcing herself as an immigrant and telling the crowd why organizers had called for the protest.
“Senator Schumer must be bold and stand with the working class,” she cried over the loudspeaker.
“He has to champion the resistance or get out of the way and we’ll find someone that will.”
end quote
He has to “champion the resistance,” people, according to this member of the Democratic Socialists of America and Resist Trump NY, but is that what the United States senate was created for – championing resistance for the Democratic Socialists of America and Resist Trump NY?
According to Virginia’s James Madison, hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for his pivotal role in drafting and promoting the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights, “The use of the Senate is to consist in proceeding with more coolness, with more system, and with more wisdom, than the popular branch.”
Ah, yes, so it was told when I was young, but that was before Charley “Chuck” came along with his “Better Deal.”
As to “Better Deal Charley,” as he is now being called out here in the countryside to the north of you people on the East Shore, proceeding with more coolness, with more system, and with more wisdom than the popular branch where his Democrat fundraising cohort Nancy Pelosi is, that is hogwash, as can be seen in this excerpt from a NEW YORK POST article by Alex Taylor and Chris Perez on January 31, 2017, to wit:
Phoebe Damrosch, 38, of Brooklyn, cited Schumer’s headline-grabbing tears during a recent news conference on Trump’s immigration ban as she voiced her concern Tuesday night.
“His tears know what’s right,” the mother of three said, while carrying a sign with a pack of Kleenex tissues attached that said: “It takes a real man to cry and lead.”
end quotes
My goodness, I started choking up myself there, thinking of how it takes a real man like Charley “Chuck” Schumer to cry and lead us down the garden path with his “Better Deal” which he says is really a Good Deal when compared to the Raw Deal he would have us believe we are getting from Trump who is the Master of the Deal in America these day, having written the bible on deal-making in America today, “The Art of the Deal,” that the Democrats are now using as their guide as to how to make a deal the American people simply won’t be able to pass up, like that cheeseburger for the price of a hamburger, which means you get the cheese for nothing, along with the thick shake and biggy fries.
And more of that “proceeding with more coolness, with more system, and with more wisdom” than the popular branch where his Democrat fundraising cohort Nancy Pelosi is, by Charley “Chuck” Schumer can be seen in this excerpt from the NEW YORK POST by Alex Taylor and Chris Perez on January 31, 2017, as follows:
Dara Barr, a 40-year-old acupuncturist from the East Village, told The Post she felt it was time for Schumer to crack the whip on the Democratic caucus — so she brought a black leather whip from home to shake like a pom-pom.
“I’m trying to whip Chuck Schumer into shape so he can whip those ‘no’ votes,” Barr said.
end quotes
See what happens when Constitutional text is separated from historical background?
The Constitution, and especially the part about the U.S. senate, becomes perverted and subverted, which has resulted in the distorted, bastardized form of illegitimate government we have today in the United States of America, where Democrat fundraiser Charley “Chuck” Schumer, who is denying the people of New York state of the honest services of a U.S. senator with his fundraising for the Democrats on the public’s dime, now resides.
As to the roots of this so-called “Better Deal,” we need look no further than this ASSOCIATED PRESS article by Lisa Lerer on 31 January 2017, as follows:
In the weeks after Trump’s election, Democrats debated whether the party should work with the new president on discrete policy initiatives, like infrastructure, or present a wall of opposition.
As protests sprang forth across the country, their furious constituents made it clear they’re demanding nothing short of complete resistance.
Hundreds of demonstrators, chanting “Just Say No!” and “Obstruct!,” shouted down Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse at a Sunday community event, protesting the Rhode Island Democrat’s vote in favor of new CIA director Mike Pompeo.
And more than 3,500 people have signed up on Facebook to march across Brooklyn to Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer’s home Tuesday night to protest his support for three of Trump’s Cabinet nominees.
And Schumer said he’d vote against eight of Trump’s Cabinet picks.
“We need Senate Democrats to do everything in their power to shut down business as usual in the Senate,” said Anna Galland, the executive director of Moveon.org, a liberal group that’s been involved in organizing weekly anti-Trump protests.
The national party hopes to ride the energy of airport protests, women’s marches and dozens of other actions across the country to electoral victories in governor races this year and next year’s congressional midterms.
“Senators are there to vote but they’re getting a pretty strong message: If you want a future as a Democrat you better look at what these young people are doing,” said Howard Dean, who was formerly governor of Vermont and chairman of the national party.
end quotes
Enter the “Better Deal,” and as always, stay tuned, for this story is far from over.
Paul Plante says
And yes, people, it is time to revisit the “BETTER DEAL” of the progressive Democrats, this in the light of what is contained in the Democratic Socialists of America’s Strategy Document – June 2016, entitled “Resistance Rising: Socialist Strategy in the Age of Political Revolution,” posted by William Thompson on 06.25.16, wherein we were told thusly about the progressive Democrats’ “BETTER DEAL” in “A summary of Democratic Socialists of America’s Strategy Document – June 2016,” to wit:
A democratic socialist society would also guarantee a wide range of social rights in order to ensure equality of citizenship for all.
Vital services such as health care, child care, education (from pre-K through higher education), shelter and transportation would be publicly provided to everyone on demand, free of charge.
Further, in order to ensure that the enjoyment of full citizenship was not tied to ups and downs in the labor market, everyone would also receive a universal basic income — that is, a base salary for every member of society, regardless of the person’s employment status.
end quotes
Now, people, think about that for a moment; that is not a better deal, that is the deal of a lifetime.
First of all, all of your vital services such as health care, child care, education from pre-K through higher education, shelter and transportation would be publicly provided to everyone on demand, free of charge, which is a hell of a lot better deal than we are getting in this country from the Republicans and Trump right now.
So, that is not just a better deal, that is a deal sent straight from heaven, especially that part about shelter being provided to everyone on demand, free of charge, and who in their right mind can be against that?
And then to top all of that off, as if it were even possible to top all of that, everyone in America under the “BETTER DEAL” would also receive a universal basic income — that is, a base salary for every member of society, regardless of the person’s employment status.
Sing hallelujah and say Amen, people – that is not a better deal, that is a great deal, plain and simple, and you don’t need a brain in your head to understand that, although to believe that, it helps to not have a brain in your head or a working mind, either.
But that discussion is for another day.
In the meantime, people, we really have something to cheer about here, don’t we, with the progressive Democrat “BETTER DEAL” revealed as to all of its fine points?
Or do we?
Stay tuned, and we shall soon see.